Abstract
Long Military Rule in Nigeria, has made the Legislature, an infant arm of government compared to the executive and the judiciary which were functional even under the Military regimes for about three decades since independence in 1960. The Legislature therefore, is a symbol of democracy, serves as the most salient dimension of democracy, and will be the litmus test for strength, sustainability and vitality of democratic governance in Nigeria. The main aim of the study was to find out the level of involvement of the Legislature in policy making process. In particular, it intended to find out the level of the involvement of the Legislature in budget making process, a case study of Kaduna State House of Assembly from 1999 to 2003, considering the infancy nature of the Legislature in Nigeria and its constitutional responsibility of controlling public funds and expenditures for the general development and wellbeing of the country and citizenry.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the study
In liberal political theory, the state exists to promote the welfare of its citizens and protect their lives and property. It is only in doing these things that it earns the loyalty of its citizens, and exact compliance without recourse to force. Therefore, at a time of dwindling natural resources and unwanted population growth in the 21st Century, the responsibilities of a state or government in modern time have grown so enormous that it has to embark on conscious planning, decisions and policies for either short or long term period in order to ensure the welfare and wellbeing of its citizenry. Hence, Government has the responsibility of mobilizing human and natural resources of the State and determines who gets what, how and when. This explains why government today, is saddled with the tasks of planning, policy making, budgeting and their implementations. Public policy therefore, emanates undoubtedly from the responsibilities of the State to nurture and protect the aspirations and needs of citizens. The arms of government involved in planning, policy making and budgetary processes are the executive and legislature in the democratic setting. Legislatures are critical institutions in making a democratic system function. In Nigeria, however, the role of legislative institutions in the policymaking process is marginal at best; legislators are inexperienced and unaccustomed to their roles and responsibilities; and the power and authority of the legislature vis-`a-vis the other branches of government, particularly the executive, are often weak or not clearly defined. This paper attempts to evaluate the main factors that affect the role of Nigerian legislatures in the policy-making process. The first step is to identify what is the contribution of the legislature to the overall policy-making process. The goal is to establish a set of criteria that will enable us to assess the extent to which a particular legislature fulfills the prescribed roles or not. The purpose is to move away from characterizations such as the legislature is a “strong” or “important” player and to propose a clear “metric” to evaluate whether a legislature is an active player or just a marginal one in the policymaking process. In other words, once we characterize what a particular legislative body may be able to do, and once we establish empirically what it is actually doing, we can then make a judgment call on how active such legislature is in a given country/period with respect to its specified role. Once we have surveyed the extent to which different legislatures play more or less actively some of their roles, the task is to identify the manner in which they exercise those roles. For example, some legislatures may be able to produce their own legislative proposals and thus challenge the executive branch, while some other legislatures may not. Alternatively, policy initiatives may be drafted by political parties and then presented to the party’s legislative contingent for their approval. In this case, we should examine the interaction between parties and legislatures. Notice also that a legislature can be very active either by blocking everything the executive branch proposes, or by reformulating and/or amending those initiatives.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Hence, Government has the responsibility of mobilising human and natural resources of the State and determines who gets what, how and when. This explains why government today, is saddled with the tasks of planning, policy making, budgeting and their implementations. Public policy therefore, emanates undoubtedly from the responsibilities of the State to nurture and protect the aspirations and needs of citizens. On this background the researcher wants to investigate the role of the legislature in policy making process.
- OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain the role of the legislature in policy making process
- To find out how well is the policy of legislature to the citizens of Nigeria
- To find out how well does the legislature interact with society
- To ascertain the responsibilities of the legislature in the democratic setting.
- RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
For the successful completion of the study, the following research hypotheses were formulated by the researcher;
H0: there is no role of the legislature in policy making process
H1: there is the role of the legislature in policy making process
H02: there are no responsibilities of the legislature in the democratic setting.
H2: there are responsibilities of the legislature in the democratic setting.
- SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study will give a clear insight on the role of the legislature in policy making process. The study will be beneficial to any students, Nigeria government and the general public. It will also serve as a reference to other researchers that will embark on this topic
- SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The scope of the study covers the role of the legislature in policy making process. The researcher encounters some constrain which limited the scope of the study;
- a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study
- b) TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.
- c) Organizational privacy: Limited Access to the selected auditing firm makes it difficult to get all the necessary and required information concerning the activities.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
LAGISLATURE: A legislature is a deliberative assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city.
POLICY MAKING: The Policy making Process. Public policy refers to the actions taken by government its decisions that are intended to solve problems and improve the quality of life for its citizens
